


when you first wake up

by kbirb



Category: Green Creek Series - T.J. Klune, Wolfsong by TJ Klune
Genre: M/M, just a small drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:23:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbirb/pseuds/kbirb
Summary: Sometimes, when Ox first wakes up, he can't remember exactly when or where he is anymore.





	when you first wake up

**Author's Note:**

> Since there's not a lot of works for this fandom, I decided I'd post my short little drabble on here as well, just to kickstart the works! I ironically thought up the first line of this when I first woke up this morning, it just popped into my head and I was like "guess I gotta write a Wolfsong fic now with that line!"

Sometimes, when you first wake up, there’s a moment where you just don’t know what’s happening anymore. There’s a moment where you don’t know what time it is, what year it is, what moments you’re waking up to. Sometimes, when Ox wakes up, he just doesn’t know.

For a very long time, Ox forgot that he had become a wolf when he woke up. It’s startling, to wake up to all of your senses coming online and being _heightened_. The first time, he could smell Joe so strongly next to him that it overwhelmed him and he couldn’t figure out why or how. He shot out of bed and he realized he could hear everything. When he woke up and forgot who he was now, he was scared because everything felt too powerful. Forgetting he was a wolf lessened over time, but he sometimes did wake up with that blinding panic. But Joe was always there to remind him and calm him and anchor him. And if Joe wasn’t in bed right then, another pack member almost always came rushing into his room, feeling his panic from wherever they were.

Sometimes, Ox forgot Joe was back. Once he got a handle on being, well, not a human, senses didn’t overwhelm him when he first woke up. So sometimes it was easy to forget Joe was there. They’d gotten a bigger bed and in the middle of the night, they’d often roll away from one another. Ox would wake up, thinking it was some point during those three years, and a brief moment of loneliness would settle over him like an oppressive blanket. But then Joe would move lightly in his sleep or let out a soft sigh and relief would wash over him. He’d roll over and look at Joe. Sleep softened the edges of the other Alpha and he sometimes still looked like the person Ox knew so long ago. 

When Ox first woke up some days, he forgot his mom was dead. It didn’t matter how much time had passed, the moments when you first wake up can be confusing and off-putting. Sometimes, Elizabeth would be moving around in the kitchen and humming a song, and Ox would wake up to the sound. He’d think it was his mother and smile contently, until the sadness would come crashing down like and wave and leave him gasping for air. In those moments, he didn’t even want Joe, which Joe came to understand. Instead, Ox would pad softly into the kitchen and find Elizabeth. She’d always pause what she was doing to fold him into her arms and hum softly to them.

Some days, Ox woke up and forgot he was supposed to be human sometimes. He’d wake up as a wolf, nestled in a bed of leaves with his pack after a full moon. Something in him knew that he needed to shift back but in those first few moments, his wolf could only think _playhuntrunlivehowlpackwolf_ over and over again before the human took hold. 

When Ox was a kid, sometimes he’d wake up and forget his daddy was gone. He expected to see him pulling on his greasy workshirt, grabbing the breakfast Maggie had made him, and heading out to work at _Gordo’s_. In those moments, Ox would cry and know he wasn’t really a man yet. Because he’d cry and cry early in the morning until his mom came in with her soft arms and kind voice. She’d pull him in tight and remind him she’d always do right by him. 

The mornings Ox forgot reminded him of those days, which often only served to make him sadder. Instead of his mom’s soft arms, Ox found solace in Joe’s strong ones. Or in Elizabeth, who was just as much a mother to him as his own. After the moments passed, he’d run a hang through his dark hair and smile bravely at his pack. They’d all drive into town and go to their respective jobs. Gordo and the boys were tactile with him, as always before, but now it meant even more to Ox because is made his wolf hum in contentment. Remembering he was safe and okay made his wolf happy.

The moment you wake up, things don’t always make sense. And the moments you’re awake they don’t always either. But Ox was doing okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I read Wolfsong yesterday when I should have been working on one of the three stories I'm currently writing. And then today, I slept too late and wrote this little drabble for Wolfsong. 
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @uscjean or on my Wolfsong blog, @carterbennett!
> 
> Big love to the TFCDiscord for dragging me into this hell and big big love to TJ Klune for existing and creating this content.


End file.
